Israeli Courage

An encounter with Jews who put their lives on the line for the Jewish people.

My cousin and her husband recently made aliyah. Prominent in their chosen fields, they retired to fulfill their long-time dream to move to Israel. They are continually in awe of the small everyday experiences that turn into stories of bravery and valor, of the opportunity to connect on an almost daily basis with Jews who have really put their lives on the line for the Jewish people.

After a very touristy walk in old Jaffa, they met yet another “old Jew” who just blew them away. This is their story:

As we were walking along the sea on our way back to our car, we came across a small interesting building and when we got to the side we saw that it was the Etzel Museum (Etzel is an acronym for Irgun Tzvai-Leumi, or Irgun, the Jewish military organization founded by Menachem Begin and devoted to “encouraging” the British to leave Palestine). We decided, in our newcomer-to-Israel-what-the-heck mode, to go in for a few minutes. At the reception desk sat an older gentleman who sold us our tickets and then went to get them for us. I saw him talking to some people in the museum and asked him if he was giving a tour. He said no, but if we had the time he would like us to see the 20 minute film that they have.

So we went into this viewing room and he stood at the front fiddling with a laptop to try to get the film to start. We groaned inwardly but then the magic began; for the next 15 minutes he told us his story. He, Yosef, had enlisted in the British army at age of 14. Thousands of Israeli youths did the same because they knew the mufti was supporting Hitler and had plans to create concentration camps for the Jews of Palestine. In order to fight the Nazis they had to join the British in spite of the problems being caused by the British White Paper. They also thought they should get training for the coming conflict with the Arabs.

He served in the British army for four years and was involved in the landings in Sicily, and North Africa. While in the British army he was also a member of Lechi (the Hebrew name for the Stern gang, another military organization that shared the goals of the Irgun). Because he spoke Hebrew, English, Arabic, Spanish, German and Portuguese both the British and the Lechi used him for undercover missions. He mentioned that, in order to facilitate this undercover work, he had a healthy tooth removed and replaced with a gold tooth because the Arabs would have a gold tooth symbolic of a bullet and it would enable him to move freely dressed as an Arab.

He was involved in the kidnapping of two British officers. He was caught, tried and convicted and sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to 15 years when the officers were released. He was imprisoned in Akko for over a year until he escaped in the famous Akko prison break. At a later date he and his wife boarded the Altalena north of Tel Aviv with Menachem Begin. Yosef claimed that Ben Gurion had given the Irgun permission to bring in the weapons but then withdrew the permission so that when the ship was going to dock in Tel Aviv it was attacked by the Palmach and Hagana. Even though they were under heavy fire, Begin ordered his men not to return fire. Begin said that the second temple was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam (causeless hatred) and he refused to have the nascent state destroyed by having Jews fighting Jews.

Even though the Irgun did not return any fire, they were subject to heavy artillery and ultimately the ship was hit. When it became apparent that the ship was sinking, Begin insisted on being the last person off of the ship, but Yosef and others forcibly put a life-vest on Begin, saying that he wasn't just a captain of a ship but the leader of a movement, and they threw him overboard. Yosef and his wife jumped into the water, swam to a dingy and went on to rescue five Cuban volunteers.

After the creation of the state of Israel, Yosef went to work for El-Al and became the head of all the stewards. He was always part of the crew when Israeli Prime Ministers flew. Many years later when then Prime Minister Begin was flying to the US to sign the peace treaty with Egypt, Yosef made up a bed for Begin in the crew's quarters. He asked Begin to go lie down. Begin asked whether there was a bed for everyone on the plane and when the answer was no, Begin refused to move from his seat. After five hours, Yosef approached him again and offered the opportunity to get some sleep so that he would be rested when he arrived in the US. Begin's answer was still "no" but added "Don't think that I forgot that you threw me in the water!”

Sometimes we forget who we are. Sometimes we get caught up in the nasty headlines – the ones attacking Israel or detailing yet another financial scandal. But Yosef’s story is also who we are, a people who will put ourselves on the line for our country and for each other. Each story needs to be told. Each one is a new inspiration and a new opportunity for gratitude.

About the Author

Emuna Braverman has a law degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters in in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University. She lives with her husband and nine children in Los Angeles where they both work for Aish HaTorah. When she isn''t writing for the Internet or taking care of her family, Emuna teaches classes on Judaism, organizes gourmet kosher cooking groups and hosts many Shabbos guests. She is the cofounder of www.gourmetkoshercooking.com.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 5

(5)
Helen Schwab (Chaiah),
July 11, 2014 3:07 AM

Thank you for giving us the gift of history.

You made history come alive for us readers. The more I learn, the more the pieces fit together into an amazing High-Story. P.S. I voted for Begin for Prime Minister when I lived in Israel.

(4)
Mimi,
March 25, 2014 11:24 PM

The beauty of each person

Beautiful story that underscores how much we have to learn from each person and just how precious each person is. It is a gift to live in
Israel and meet the incredible people who built and protect this land.

(3)
Bill Pentecost,
March 25, 2014 8:46 PM

Meeting Ben Zion in Jerusalem.

I was in Jerusalem for Sukkot in the early '80s and had gone into an Arab hairdresser in the Old City. The hairdresser couldn't speak English so he asked another customer/old friend to translate. The barber wanted to know if it was OK for him to use a cut-throat razor to trim around my beard. The other customer turned out to be Ben Zion - also of the Irgun -he showed me a Wanted picture with himself and a large group of others including Ben Gurion. He said he also remembered New Zealand soldiers coming through the orange groves in the WW1. ( I am a Kiwi.) Ben Zion is a man I will never forget. Very special.

(2)
Daveed,
March 25, 2014 5:58 PM

Humility = Honor

Yosef's story reminds me of Psalm 145:14, "The Lord...raises up those who are bowed down."
Yosef strikes me as a humble man. In exchange, God saw fit to honor him in his old age, by ensuring that his story was told around the world--via this very article.

(1)
Robin Rosenblatt,
March 25, 2014 4:09 PM

Here is a small gift of the sacred words of a Jewish Warrior

Blessed Is The Match

Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.Blessed is the heart with the strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake.Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.

Hannah SeneshSardice, Yugoslavia May 2, 1944

Submit Your Comment:

Name:*

Display my name?

YesNo

Email:*

Your email address is kept private. Our editor needs it in case we have a question about your comment.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!